Library card takes him back again

Long before my wallet was crammed full of credit cards, insurance cards, ID cards and on and on - creating something approaching George's overflowing wallet on "Seinfeld" - I had that one card.

A library card.

I guess I probably had a Social Security card, too. But I don't remember getting excited about that.

Before there were driver's licenses and passports, there was a crisp, new library card. And it took me places.

It took me to behind the scenes at baseball stadiums all over the country.

It took me to the moon.

It took me through a wardrobe and into a place called Narnia.

It took me and a kid named Milo to a Phantom Tollbooth.

It took me back in time. And into the future.

It took me hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

Honest, honey, that's where I went. OK, maybe as a teenager I ended up going to Argentina and other exotic lands. But my point is that a library card was powerful. And it still is. Perhaps now more than ever.

In a down economy, library use is up.

Since October, the Jacksonville Public Library has seen its number of visitors increase by 10 percent. And while the mayor was releasing a list of the potential cuts to balance the budget - $1.1 million from the library if there is a tax increase, $3.9 million if there isn't - the main library was quietly buzzing with activity.

One of the sights that brought back memories: kids getting new library cards.

As part of a library card awareness campaign, the library recently asked people to share stories. This is mine.

For me, the end of school and the start of summer brings to mind milking every second of daylight out of the day. It also brings to mind lying in bed, a baseball game on the radio, a library book in my hands. (Note to kids: in the days before cell phones and texting, this was multi-tasking.)

I learned to read in school. I learned to enjoy reading during the summer.

That's when we made family trips to the library. And we could get whatever books we wanted. Not books that were required for class. Books we wanted to read.

Until recently, I had forgotten what it felt like to walk into a library and, as the library's campaign says, "imagine the possibilities."

After college, I drifted away from using libraries. If I wanted a book, I went to a bookstore or ordered something online.

But I'm part of that 10 percent increase in traffic. I've become a regular at libraries again. And this week I got my new card, a blue one with a wonderful slogan.

Start here. Go anywhere.

With a book about the Apollo space program, I'm going back to the moon. To 1969. To my childhood.

With a book about a famous marathon battle between two Americans, Dick Beardsley and Alberto Salazar, I'm going to 1982 and the 26.2 miles leading into Boston.

With a 100-year-old magazine found in the Florida Collection (available to be copied, but not removed from the library), I am preparing for an actual trip to the Dry Tortugas by going there with a woman who lived on the islands in the late 1800s.

And last but certainly not least, with a book that I'm reading aloud at night, I'm going with my daughter to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

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